Comparison Tests
Gas is $4 a gallon. Get used to it. One way of coping with this is to reminisce about what fuel used to cost. As the pump rolls past $60, $65, $70, the mind wanders back to the hazy, sepia-toned, cheap fill-ups of yore. “This would have cost me $14 back in ’85!” we lament. But all the nostalgic calculations in the world won’t change the numbers on the service-station sign. Speaking of signs, why is it that the gas pump is the only place where prices are quoted to a fraction of a penny? Gallons of milk don’t cost $2.979.
Another, perhaps more useful way of coping with high gas prices is to consider replacing your current pump-addicted ride with something smaller and more fuel efficient. As recently as our May 2011 issue, we scrutinized five compact four-doors [“Startup Sedans”]. In that comparison test, Ford’s new Focus, in SEL trim, emerged victorious over the previous champion, the Mazda 3. It also dispatched the newbies: Hyundai Elantra, Chevy Cruze, and Volkswagen Jetta. Ford snatched the small-car trophy from the sporty Mazda 3 by delivering more refinement, style, and value than the grinning Mazda, while nearly matching the 3’s handling and performance.
We couldn’t help but wonder how the 2012 Honda Civic would have fared. Unfortunately, the new Civic, a perennial sales champ in the class, wasn’t introduced until after our test. Unlike our last comparison that had a $25,000 ceiling, this time we chose to keep the price below $23,000. Enter the $21,255 Civic EX. This example of the top trim level lacked only navigation and leather seats.
The ’12 Focus is a global car: Its design gestated in Germany, and it is built at factories throughout the world (the American-market Focus is built in Wixom, Michigan, in a plant that used to churn out Town Cars; Honda builds the Civic in Indiana and Ontario, Canada). The Focus in this test is a well-equipped SE model, MSRP $22,840. Opting for this trim level rather than the $2900-dearer SEL means forgoing the option of leather seats, self-parking, and MyFord Touch with navigation, a system that endlessly irritated us in the earlier comparo. We didn’t miss any of the extra gear.
